Subaru electrifies Crosstrek with StarDrive

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. — The 2019 Subaru Crosstrek Hybrid is the automaker's first plug-in hybrid. And with that comes the debut of StarDrive, Subaru's moniker for its vehicle electrification.

"StarDrive is Subaru's way of electrifying vehicles," Garrick Goh, car line planning manager, told Automotive News during the media introduction here. "This is the first vehicle to have it. It's new nomenclature for us. It really puts together the boxer engine and the symmetrical all-wheel drive and meshes that with electrification. We wanted an umbrella name to encompass that."

The StarDrive name is a nod to the brand's own appellation, taken from the Japanese word for the constellation that the ancient Greeks called Pleiades.

The Crosstrek Hybrid's drivetrain pairs a 2.0-liter direct-injection boxer engine — the hallmark engine design used in all Subarus — with a new continuously variable transmission with two electric motor generators. An 8.8-kilowatt-hour lithium ion battery pack is beneath the cargo area. The vehicle generates 148 hp combined, comparable to the non-StarDrive version's 152 hp.

The Crosstrek Hybrid has an EV range of 17 miles with a combined rating of 90 MPGe. It has a total range of 480 miles. If the battery isn't charged, the vehicle functions as a mild hybrid and gets 35 mpg combined, Subaru said.

Some hybrid technology is borrowed from partner Toyota Motor Corp., such as the two motor generators from the Camry Hybrid, according to Goh.

It takes five hours to charge the battery with the included 120-volt Level 1 charger, while a 240-volt Level 2 charger cuts the charge time to two hours.